Thursday, February 16, 2006

18 comments:

You know, I had an unfortunate experience with a rooster when I was a kid. My aunt and grandmother had lots of them (they lived side by side, so they shared a pen). I was supposed to gather eggs. The rooster chased me...and chased me...and chased me. I think that's why, when we incubated eggs (studying life cycles) at school, I brought home a duck instead of a chicken.

We had one big rangy rooster that used to go after my kids. Both of my children were really small, 4 and 5, at the time. He chased my daughter all the way across the pasture one afternoon, through the gate, up and over the manure pile. Evil feathered critter.

Hi Sarah,Hey, that's serious. Rooster experiences can scar kids for life. I mean, how many times do you hear scary childhood duck stories? : )

Hi Vickie,I was just thinking about you. I've missed you!

Hi I.G.O. (sorry, but I'm taking the liberty of shortening your name when I feel like it),See, Sarah? Rooster nightmares everywhere!

And it's not just roosters. When my hairdresser in the Big City learned that I live on a farm (and this was before I even had chickens), he couldn't wait to tell me the story of when he (a city guy through and through) was just a little tyke and visiting Grandma's farm. They told him to go collect the eggs, and I guess one of the hens didn't want to give hers up and so she pecked him--hard. He got so angry that without thinking he swatted the poor chicken right across the coop and, um, well, he then had to go 'fess up to Grandma that he'd just murdered one of her laying hens. Totally unphazed, Granny cooked it up for a delicious dinner! I must have heard that story three or four times. Again--those childhood chicken memories stick! To this day he refuses to get near a chicken that isn't on a serving dish. : )

Hi Clare,Well, no eggs yesterday or today, but it's been weird warm and stormy weather. Whitey did lay one on Valentine's Day! And of course those two other hens are still churning them out on a regular basis. Show offs. : )

Farmgirl, I have been lurking. I come everyday to look but can't always think of anything to say as hysterical as your captions. I just love the sense of humor you use. Cracks me up. Hey are, you going to have a Sheep blog day or a Donkey blog day? I am READY! lol!

If you will check that photo of the egg from the other el-cheapo bird you will understand immediately that a good egg cannot be produced at the drop of the proverbial hat. Compare that sad thing with my brown beauty. well, what can you say?Can't rush an artiste.What's all this talk about ducks?

When I was small, and visiting my grandparents in England, they still had a couple of chickens, despite their suburban location. (A lot of people kept them during WWII, cause you had more eggs if you used your ration coupons for feed.)It was my "job" to go get an egg for my breakfast in the morning. One morning, like Whitey and Lindy, neither chicken had produced an egg. My aunt, thinking I would be disappointed, put an egg from the fridge in the henhouse for me to "find". I came in crying, sure that the chicken was dying, because her egg was cold! They had to confess.

Hi Vickie,So glad to hear you've been lurking--and that you have sheep and donkey photos ready! I'll come up with some way to incorporate them, I'm sure. That is if the chickens don't completely take over first. : )

Hi Kelly,Congratulations! You are going to have so much fun--and so many eggs! And that reminds me that I need to get working on my own chick order soon. Can't wait. We'll probably order about 25, too. I think I'll look for breeds with um, how shall I put it?--not a lot of attitude! : )

Hi Lindy (the chicken),Well, ducks do have their strong points. For one, they eat flies. For two, they lay bigger eggs. Plus I just think those white Pekin ones are really cute. I should probably stop now.

Hi Lindy (the person),See!? See!? More childhood chicken stories that have stuck! This one was pretty funny, though--and at least had no chasing, bleeding, murder, or disappearance involved. : )

Hi Anonymous,You didn't fail! Your first comment posted on a different post--the "poultry" link in this photos caption. I got both comments, and you aren't as incapable as you fear.

However, before one of the chickens hacks into my computer again, maybe I can save us some sqwaking (is that how one spells sqwaking? it looks weird) and let you know that (and, look, girls, I'm even putting it in bold: Chickens are not hopeless! They practically know more about computers than I do, and today I discovered that Whitey even has her own blog!

Farmgirl, if you have a Chicken blogging weekend, I am going to have to find some new farm friends! lol! Sadly I know no one here where I live who has chickens. Do you think strangers in the country will be respective to my knocking on the door and explaining to them how I have to take a photo of their chickens to send chicken greetings from VA chickens to MO chickens? Can we say POLICE? lol!

When I was pretty small, like maybe three or four, we had some bantams. I have no idea why, unless it was pets for me. My dad built a little house for them that looked exactly like a little house. I used to love my banties and was always crawling into their house with them. As you can imagine, my mother nearly had a stroke, thinking of her baby in there with all those bird-borne diseases. But I must have been hearty, because I never came down with anything.

My aunt who lived in the country had either ducks or geese, can't remember which, but they used to chase me unmercifully, until I was screaming and crying because those suckers bit! Then we got a lab who thought I was her baby. We went to my aunt's house and the birds started after me immediately, as per usual. One shriek out of me, and the lab ran those birds until they dropped dead, literally. My aunt was ticked, but she used to think it was funny that I was afraid of them. So, I was thrilled that they were dead, and I am so not that kind of person. It was just such a relief to know I'd never have to be afraid to go visit again.

Surprisingly, I'm not afraid of birds, now, but I do have a healthy respect for large birds who squawk and hiss.

January 2013 update: I know word verification is a big pain, but it's the only way I can stop the ridiculous number of anonymous spam comments I get every day. I don't want to require commenters to be registered Blogger or Open ID users because I know many of you aren't. Thanks so much for your understanding!

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

If you're waiting for a reply to your comment and have a Blogger profile (it's free to create one) you can check the NOTIFY ME box that is below and receive all follow up comments to just this specific post via email.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!